Ann and Bobbi Discuss Tracy

(Cut from Chapter 18, Bobbi and Ann discuss Tracy and the progress with Jack.)

“Ann Molinsky,” Bobbi said in a teasing reproof. “You’re supposed to let somebody help you down the stairs.”

“I took my time. I’m fine.” She eased herself into one of the kitchen chairs. “Everything smells wonderful. Is it a roast?”

Bobbi nodded and pulled the pan out of the oven. She placed carrots and potatoes in with the roast before sliding it back in the oven. “Joel’s going to be home in time for dinner, so I thought I should have something for him to come home to.”

“You’re a good mother, Bobbi.”

“I love my kids.”

“All four of them,” Ann agreed.

Bobbi nodded and pulled a chair up to the kitchen table beside her mother-in-law. “Yes, all four of them. Although, I think Tracy would have a stroke to hear me call Jack mine.”

“She engineered this situation. She surely took into account that you would love Jack like your own.”

“Ann, I wouldn’t hazard any guesses about what she thinks. She’s so unpredictable. She showed up at the hospital the morning of your surgery, to tell Chuck she wished you all the best. Then that afternoon at the court meeting, she went off and stormed out.”

“She wants something from you,” Ann said, as she thought about Bobbi’s comments.

“Me? Forgiveness?”

“No…I think it’s about Jack. You are the biggest gamble in her plan. If you don’t love Jack, then she’s exposed her son to rejection and set him up to feel second-rate the rest of his life. She’s ruined him.”

“And the question is, what is worth that risk?”

“I don’t know, but she’s desperate. Debt, illness, something big.”

“Ann you’re amazing. I’ve never known anybody who could size people up like you do. Chuck never got away with anything growing up, did he?”